This invention relates generally to egg beaters, and in particular to a beater whose drive wheel and the pinion gears driven thereby for rotating the beater elements are encased in a doughnut-shaped housing which is dimensioned to also function as the handle of the beater.
An egg beater is a hand-operated kitchen utensil adapted to beat, stir or whip ingredients in a fluidized state to bring about a change in the viscosity or other physical characteristic of the batter being worked on. The standard household egg beater is constituted by a manually-cranked drive wheel having opposed gear faces which are engaged by pinions keyed to the shafts of a pair of beater elements, the wheel being supported within an open frame. A handle is either mounted directly above the frame or is attached to the frame at an angle thereto.
In operating a conventional beater of this type, the operator grasps the handle in one hand and uses his other hand to turn the crank, the beater being positioned so that the shafts are upright and the beater elements are immersed in the mix to be processed. When, for example, the ingredients being beaten are constituted by flour, liquid and other materials forming a batter, continued beating of this mixture acts to thicken and render it more viscous. As a result, the batter becomes increasingly resistant to the beating action.
This increase in resistance to beating is communicated to the axle of the drive wheel to which the crank arm is coupled, thereby generating a torque seeking to swing the beater about the drive wheel axle to displace the beater from its proper upright position. Since the handle is offset with respect to the drive wheel axle, the beam between the handle and the axle constituting, as it were, a lever arm which transmits the torque to the operator's hand. This makes it difficult for the operator to maintain the beater in a steady position, and the operator often finds himself struggling with the beater to keep it in operation.